I’m a hoarder. Besides never throwing away unused bread twist ties and spices from two moves ago, I hold onto my epoxy resin mistakes. Seventeen years and counting because I can’t bear throwing them in the trash.
And I’ve heard from others that I’m not the only one who keeps their resin blunders.
Guess what? Keeping your epoxy mistakes can be pretty useful from time to time. Here are a few ideas on what you can do with your resin projects you don’t want to keep but can’t bear throwing away:
1. Abuse some
When you’re selling resin jewelry and crafts, you’re working hard to make art that people will enjoy for years. But you’ll be amazed by how people can abuse what they bought from you.
Use some of your mistakes and put them in bad situations to discover exactly what happens.
What’s a bad situation?
*Sunlight
*Constant heat
*Water exposure
Once you know what happens to what you make, you can give customers the best advice for caring for resin.
2. Use them as practice pieces
Want to try side drilling charms to string together as a bracelet but don’t want to risk ruining your good work? Try techniques you’re learning on your epoxy mistakes.
3. Experiment with them
You know those times when your mind begins to wander about, “I wonder if I can do this with resin…”
Now’s the perfect time to try that with your mistakes.
4. Turn your epoxy mistakes into samples
Can’t remember what resin looks like when sanded to different degrees? You can sand your epoxy mistakes with varying grits of sandpaper and label which ones you used. You can look at your samples and know where you go with your project.
Love the color you got in casting, but it’s unsuitable to wear because of bubbles? Write your resin color formula and tape it to the resin charm, so you know how to get it again next time.
5. Save them for customer samples
Maybe the bangle bracelet you made has bubbles. But it doesn’t mean the customer can’t put it on to get an idea of what wearing the bracelet is like. These also work great for customers. Especially when you worry that they will get dirt and grease all over your jewelry.
Like at craft festivals that also sell sticky carnival food.
6. Show them in your craft fair booth
People love to see you’re not perfect. It makes them appreciate the lengths you go to make a quality product.
Plus, it shows them that creating with epoxy resin isn’t always as easy as it may look.
7. Save them for class examples
My mistakes work great when I’m teaching resin classes. I can show people what can happen without actually having to intentionally mess up a project.
8. Recycle them into a new project
Cured resin chips work great to color a new resin project. (And you can use resin cup skins for this too.)
Cut up your epoxy mistakes and mix them into resin. That’s how you can make something like these terrazzo earrings.
9. Inspiration and appreciation
It shows you how far you’ve come and how you’ve improved.
But I bet you’re trying to avoid epoxy resin mistakes to begin with.
Am I right?
Then you’ll want to buy your copy of Resin Fundamentals. I wrote the ebook for beginners to give you the vital details in making art that will have people saying, ‘Wow, you made that?’ Buy the PDF book now and get an email download link in minutes.
Unpublished Blog Posts of Resin Obsession, LLC © 2023 Resin Obsession, LLC
1)I have been able to fix some bubble mistakes by using a tiny drill bit and drilling straight thru the bubble blowing out the residue ,wiping it out with a damp q-tip let dry and then using more resin into the fill the hole.sand down when its dry the re-level it if need be. also re-coat outside if need be.
2)you could also save the piece if the buble is in say the “right” place drill into it a tiny bit and add a rhinestone “diamond”. you can get the tiny ones from the beauty supply shop– the type they use to design artificial nails.
I am super new to working with resin. I want to make my countertops but I am learning on small projects. I poured a flat notebook cover and it had a million bubbles. I took my heat gun to get the bubbles out and it turned it white and cooked it 😭 . It was my first time doing something that big (5 “x 7”) I tried sanding it and it turned all the bubbles white and so when I re-resined it the bubbles stayed white. 😭. Also, I poured some acrylic paint in the center and it bubbled out! 😳. So two experiments epic learning! Soooo now that I found ya’ll I have a justification to keep my failures and learn from them but now I have somewhere to get info when needed! Your awesome!
like the one with the bubble above, you can glue a bead or something like a star or small cross over it as something added, especially if you make it look like it’s on purpose
Pure genius, I love all your ideas. I’m a hoarder with zero tolerance for waste so I usually find a way to use everything! I paint over bubbles and flaws. Also I cover small problems with jewels, fabric, glitter, all sorts. If the defect is in an awkward place, I cover a larger area or balance the effect over the whole piece. I may then have to put on more resin. I wouldn’t just cover anything “dirty”, hair, dust and the like I would dig out/sand out first 🙂
Nina,
I have never had good luck trying to drill bubbles and refilling with resin. I will have to give it a try your way.
I like the idea of adding a rhinestone too. No one ever has to know that wasn’t your intent in the first place!
Do you buy resin as a powder or something? And is there a specific mold that needs to be used? And I’ve heard that people put actual candy in resin, what happens to the candy after a while?
@CureCloud, you have some great questions! Sounds like you are new to resin jewelry making? I would suggest starting with a copy of my book: https://resinobsession.com/ItemPage/8831/Resin-Jewelry-Making.html It will answer all that plus teach you some basic skills.
I laughed at the top picture – cat hair is my nemesis! I now have two cats, and it seems like 4 times the loose cat hair! I have tried to keep everything cleaned and swept, but not much luck. The room I have to use for my art projects also has one of the litter boxes, so I can’t close the door.
Thanks for the tips, Kathrine!
Not to get on your case, but is there any way to get rid of those spam comments? I hate seeing that stuff on a website I really enjoy…
And it clutters up useful discussion I love so much!
Thanks Lizza for letting us know about the spam. We get so many comments daily that I have to depend on apps and plug ins keep the spam away. Sometimes it doesn’t always work. Thank you for the feedback.
I want to do some coasters, but the price of it all not sure I want to fail with it. Have heard diamond glaze, then people say you can get it wet. So I feel really that is a challenge to practice and I am not into it that much. Wanted to do a one time thing. So guess I will pass.
Oh no. Don’t be discouraged! Give it a try. You will love the process!
I made a couple castings out of molds..but they aren’t very hard and are kinda bendy. Will they still be ok long term? They’re just on my shelf as a reminder of my first project.. Or could I maybe put them in another mold and pour a new casing over it and make a new project?
They will likely always be bendy. You can certainly use them as an inclusion for a future project.
I am a complete newbie to resin but have big goals, so I really like the idea of keeping the first few mistakes to show how far I’ve come (someday)! I think that resin is one of those things that take trial and error to perfect and you have to mess a few up to learn proper techniques. I will definitely use these ideas in my resin journey!! Thank you!
Good luck Carol!
I have made quite a few things so far and most have turned out really nice. But I tried to make a paper weight with a rose and some flowers from my brother’s funeral. I added some chunky glitter and most of it went to the bottom (top of the paper weight) and you can’t see the rose. is there anyway to remove the top part and redo, or crack it open to retrieve something from it. I’m heartbroken. But it was my fault, I found out afterwards large glitter tends to sink and I did not know that before. 🙁
Hi Brenda, I’m sorry this happened to you. You can try sanding off the top so you can see the rose again, then recoat with another layer of resin.
Can you use normal resin with UV resin? Me biggest fan. Literally lol. Hugs debs from Texas
HI Debs, thanks for the love! I’ve never mixed UV resin and two-part resin. I don’t know how well it would work.
I have used up resin in my projects and cured it then used two part epoxy as top coat it worked fine. Just wanted to let you know it worked for me. I’m a beginner and just tried it. Lol
That’s awesome to hear Christine!
Hi Debbie! I made a unicorn where I first used some UV resin in the horn, ears and tail. I cured it and then used two part resin for the rest of the body. It was an experiment and I wasn’t sure what would happen. It ended up turning out really well! All parts came out together. If you go to How to make resin jewelry’s Facebook page I have a picture of it there. I hope this answers your question.
Another use for left over pieces (I apologize if someone’s already said this) is to put them in larger projects that will be a solid, opaque color as a filler. I once made a dozen resin and clay cupcakes to use as photography photo props and I filled the “cup cakes” with mistake pieces. It was nice not to waste all that resin!
Bubbles can actually be fixed by using a small drill bit on a manual handle. Slowly twist until the biT enters the void, work the biT around to open the hole a bit. Now using that bit pull out any resin shavings make sure it’s cleaned out. You can lightly sand top edge of hole if needed. Mix up a tiny amount of resin or wait until you have some leftovers to use. Pour enough to cover the entire top, use a bit of wire or straightened paperclip to make sure void is filled and work out any new bubbles. Now once it has cured you won’t even be able to tell it had a bubble! Takes a little time but you save the entire piece.
An unexpected way to use my “castoffs” is art time with kids. They don’t see the mistakes you do, and they do cool stuff with it.
I’m a beginner & making some very good things but as usual Don’t read all the instructions,Just pour it in!! Add flowers glitter bubbles! & some pyramids worked just poring in,no waiting. Some coasters came out Ok but some a bit sticky & some came out bendy. I know that where I work is not always 21c & I know that the mixing was wrong,obviously! Can I incorporate these items into a larger mold? Is there a big difference between deep & epoxy resin for larger projects, maybe 2-4 ins? In anticipation Sally Monk